Too young to vote? Not at this Nunavut school

While eligible voters were casting their ballots in the federal election on Monday, some students in Iqaluit also cast a ballot.

As part of a unit on civics, Grade 5 students at Nakasuk School participated in the Canada-wide Student Vote program, which is run by a charity called Civix, in partnership with Elections Canada.

Nakasuk School was one of 12 schools in Nunavut and two in Nunavik that participated in the program, which saw students learn about the parties and their platforms as well as the electoral process.

WATCH | CBC Kids News explains the Student Vote campaign:

Results of the Civix Student Vote and the 2025 federal election

14 hours ago

Duration 3:29

Who won the Student Vote 2025? How do those results compare to the adult vote? CBC Kids News contributor Matthew Hines breaks it down. But first, check out how the Student Vote happens. We visited Central Technical School in Toronto, Ontario, on the day its students voted.

One of the Nakasuk School students who voted was Brea Killulark.

"I've always really wanted to do it because I saw my parents doing it," she said. "I really thought it looked fun."

That response allows for students to hold their parents accountable, according to Cathy Welsh, the teacher who organized Nakasuk School's vote. She says parents have told her their children come home with questions about the process.

"They often say, 'I asked my mom, did they vote?'" Welsh said of her students. "It increases the discussion and the awareness about the election and we get more people talking about it in great ways."

Another goal of the program is to show that voting is not scary or complicated, says Welsh. She says this will create lifelong voters and students can learn that democracy is something they can participate in.

"If we make it exciting and teach them about it [when they're] young, they will continue doing it forever," Welsh added.

One of Civix's goals is to make voting a habit.

"If you don't vote when you're young, if you don't vote when you turn 18, there are good chances that you're never going to vote," said Dana Cotnareanu, director of Civix-Quebec and French programming.

"Right now, voter turnout for younger people [aged] 18 to 24 is pretty low, especially when we compare it to [elders]."

The numbers from Elections Canada back this up.

In the 2021 federal election, 46.7 per cent of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 cast a ballot, compared to 74.9 per cent of voters aged 65 to 74. The data shows that the higher the age group, the higher percentage of ballots were cast, with the exception of voters aged 75 and up, where only 65.9 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.

"This pattern has been seen in every general election since 2004," Elections Canada's website says.

Civix's post-election results say Nakasuk School's students voted to re-elect Lori Idlout of the NDP, who gained 28 of the 48 votes cast. Kilikvak Kabloona of the Liberals and James T. Arreak of the Conservatives gained 10 votes each.

Registered voters in Nunavut also re-elected Idlout in Monday's vote. 

And while the students are too young to vote today, their experience on Monday could go a long way to making sure they'll be ready when the day comes.